Most sanitation issues can be addressed by simple hand washing with soap and water, good personal hygiene and sanitary preparation of food and water and their containers. When medical equipment and instruments are used however because of their use around open wounds or people who may be carrying disease, these instruments should always be sterilized.
There are a couple of ways sterilization of medical/dental instruments can be accomplished, even in the most primitive conditions:
Sterilizing
The best way to sterilize is with heat. High heat kills almost all harmful germs—especially those that cause hepatitis, tetanus, and mouth infections. Wet heat (steam) is always more effective than dry heat from an oven. Here is a simple rule to use in deciding when to sterilize:
Boil or sterilize with steam any instrument that has touched blood.
Instruments left in boiling water need 30 minutes to become sterile. A pot with a cover to trap the steam can act faster. The inside becomes hotter and 20 minutes is enough. But remember that water can rust metal instruments. To prevent rust:
• Add 5 spoonfuls (20 ml) of oil to every liter of water you boil.
• Then lay the hot instruments on a dry, clean (sterile, if possible) cloth, so the water can evaporate.
Never put an instrument away while it is wet.
Sterilizing with steam under pressure is the fastest and surest method. It kills harmful germs in 15 minutes. You need a strong pot with a tight fitting lid. But be sure to make a small hole in the lid so steam can escape when the pressure becomes too great.
A special pot called a pressure cooker is perfect for this. It even has a safety-hole on it to release extra steam.
1. Put 2 cups of water and 2 spoonfuls of cooking oil into the pot.
2. Place the handles together. Put on high heat until a loud hissing noise begins.
3. Put on lower heat.
Begin timing now. Leave the hissing pot on the low flame for 15 minutes.
DO NOT LET THE COOKER BOIL DRY!
4. Cool the pot under water, open, and lay the instruments on a clean towel to dry. The next time you use the pot, you can use the same water that was left inside it.
Sterilizing with heat is not necessary for instruments that do not touch blood. For example, after you examine a person or place a temporary filling, you can clean your instruments and then soak them in a solution of alcohol or bleach.
Alcohol solution
1. Mix in a large container each week: 7 parts alcohol (95%) with 3 parts clean water. Keep the container tightly covered to prevent evaporation.
2. Keep a covered pan half filled with this mixture. You will have to add some more of the mixture from the large container to the pan each day.
3. Leave your clean instruments in the pan, completely covered with the liquid, for 30 minutes.
Bleach solution (sodium hypocholorite)
Find the cheapest brand name in your area for bleach. Examples are Javex, Clorox, Purex, and Cidex. Make 1 liter of solution with a mixture of ½ cup (125 ml) of bleach and 3½ cups (875 ml) of clean water.
BLEACH and WATER
Unfortunately, bleach rusts metal instruments. To reduce rust, add 1 large spoonful of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to the solution, and leave your instruments in the solution for only 30 minutes. Wipe each instrument with alcohol to remove the film of bleach. Then store it dry inside a clean cloth or in
another covered pan.
Before you use any instrument again, wash it with clean water—to remove the taste of the disinfectant.
Keep your sterile instruments together in a clean place.
Wrap them in a clean cloth or leave them in disinfectant. Mark with tape the names of the instruments inside
Gauze or cotton swabs.
Germs living in dirty cotton can easily start an infection. It is important, therefore, to keep the cut pieces in a container that is clean and has a cover. Use clean tweezers to remove the cotton gauze when you need some.
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Information comes from “Where there is no Dentist”
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